Quarterback rotation? What quarterback rotation?

You guys know I’m not a program insider.  Nor do I have any particular claim to a direct line on what’s going on inside Mark Richt’s head.  All I can go on is what the man has to say, until events otherwise prove that to be wrong.

So I didn’t read anything into the quarterback rotation at Georgia’s first scrimmage, because Richt and the quarterbacks have all said they’re being rotated equally around the three teams.

And guess what? It turns out that’s exactly what happened at the scrimmage.

Quarterback Jacob Park. His numbers Saturday were good — four of seven for 187 yards and a touchdown — but it came with the third string offense against the third string defense.

Is that a sure-sign he’s trailing Brice Ramsey and Faton Bauta in the QB race? Not necessarily because Ramsey said that the practice by practice QB rotation was set for the order Saturday to be Ramsey, Bauta, Park.

There’s nothing to indicate that Richt has made his mind up about a starter yet.  (In fact, Seth Emerson’s been harping on a couple of reasons why Richt may be in no real hurry to make that call.)  But if you’re into playing armchair psychiatrist, I doubt anything like that will sound convincing.  Meanwhile, the rest of us will wait.  There’s plenty of time.

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36 Comments

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36 responses to “Quarterback rotation? What quarterback rotation?

  1. The odds favor Ramsey due to his experience and being last year’s No. 2, but it does say something—what, I’m not sure—that Ramsey isn’t the clear favorite. Optimists will say it’s because Park or Bauta are getting so much better while pessimists will say all are bad options. I do enjoy the concept of rotating QBs in the spring, though. Coaches need to see these kids with every line (1-3) before choosing. It’s just a bit of uncharted territory for UGA fans because the QBs have been pretty much set in stone since Stafford, so the angst/curiosity is pretty high.

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    • EdDawg

      Seth has said he thinks it’s because the backups would transfer if you named the starter early, leaving you with only 2 scholarship Qb’s. Tend to agree. it’s Ramsey.

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      • Beuller

        I obviously don’t have info or coaching ability, but my “gut” tells me Ramsey is not the man to take us to the next level, but Park is.
        I would hate for Park to transfer (I think he would be the most likely candidate to transfer if Ramsey gets the nod) and he would probably end up with the chickens.

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        • Bazooka Joe

          Sorry – I changed my screen name a couple of articles back to respond to a specific post asking for a reply from Ferris Bueller. Forgot to change it back…

          I obviously don’t have info or coaching ability, but my “gut” tells me Ramsey is not the man to take us to the next level, but Park is.
          I would hate for Park to transfer (I think he would be the most likely candidate to transfer if Ramsey gets the nod) and he would probably end up with the chickens.

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  2. rocksalt

    I’m bringing my children to the Spring game. They want to see a starting QB. Won’t Richt think about the children!?!?!?!

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  3. Well judging by the stats from the earlier scrimmage, I’ve yet to see a quarterback of the caliber and consistency to take over at this important juncture. In fact, some of the footwork fundamentals are frankly not where they are suppose to be. I wish I could work with these young men to further assess their potential on more of a one on one nature. I’ve considered volunteering. It means that much to me to see a capable qb develop.

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  4. EdDawg

    Wonder who came up with the rotation and looked ahead at the dates for who would start on the scrimmage, was it random, or Richt? I’m not buying a random argument. I’m not naiive.

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    • AusDawg85

      LOL…An entire post dedicated to smacking-down your keen insight, but you’re definitely not naive.

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      • EdDawg

        You don’t want to take statements at face value, you look for actions that contradict these statements, and there’s the rub for Richt.

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  5. DawgFaithful

    Definitely can’t read too much into it. The stat that stuck out to me though was that Park only had 7 pass attempts While the other 2 guys were in the 30’s. Maybe they ran out of time. I doubt the 3rd group ever gets as many reps as the 1st 2 groups do. But it does make me wonder if may e Park is behind the other 2 in the playbook maybe.

    Maybe ive been reading too much on message boards . You can go on the 247 message board and find guys that already know exactly how it’s gonna play out.

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    • Another possibility is what Richt mentioned at the presser – a lot of the plays they run at scrimmage are done according to a tight script. If a series runs a given number of plays, they shut it down, regardless of where it’s at on the field at the time.

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    • EdDawg

      Ran out of time? It’s a long, long practice to get in that many offensive plays, my guess is around 3-4 hours. And Park gets 7 pass plays? I agree with you, odd indeed.

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  6. EdDawg

    Ok, think about it, does this look like equal rotation?

    Ramsey got 32 passes
    Bauta got 30
    Park got 7.

    That’s 69 passes, should have 23 passes each, right? 7 for Park? 7? And there’s an “equal rotation”? Hilarious.

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    • So Ramsey’s either lying or stupid. Okay.

      Rotation isn’t the same thing as equal number of pass plays. You think every spring practice has them throwing the same number, day in and day out?

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      • EdDawg

        If they want to see how Park handles pressure, and are truly interested in an equal rotation, you can’t let Ramsey get 32 passes, and Park 7. That’s 4.5x more passes, too much of a discrepancy. Ramsey is just saying what he’s told to say, and I don’t blame him, and he might believe that line about “Eh, you just happened to fall in the rotation, but for some reason, and it’s equal reps, we gave you 4.5x more than Park”…..My guess is he knows what’s going on and why these things are said.

        I always look more at Richt’s actions than his words.

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      • reipar

        Park was actually sacked 25 times 😉

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    • It’s just ONE scrimmage. The next one could see Park getting 30 and Ramsey getting 7. It really is just too early to tell. Just wait to hang Richt after all the practices and scrimmages are complete. Although I have a feeling CMR is doomed no matter what he chooses to do.

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      • Dawgwalker07

        “It’s just ONE scrimmage. The next one could see Park getting 30 and Ramsey getting 7. ”

        Stop with your logic! We will have NONE OF THAT HERE!

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  7. EdDawg

    I think the reason Richt didn’t want to share the stats could be because:
    A) The Qb rotation would be known
    B) The rep discrepancy would massively contradict what he’s been saying about how open the contest is

    Richt did a pretty good job attempting to downplay Park’s numbers, being sure to point out Park did it against the 3rd string defense.

    Richt didn’t say, “Of course Ramsey’s yards were more than Park’s because he had the No 1 offense”. I found that odd too.

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    • I think…

      That’s your first mistake.

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      • EdDawg

        You have to decide how you want to evaluate Richt, by his words, or the Qb’s actions? If you go by only his words, then sure, it was just bad luck for Park, the 18 new quality control guys forgot to count reps, etc. If you’re on the side of looking at actions speaking louder than words, then you have to conclude something is amiss.

        An orange tree doesn’t grow cucumbers, right?

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        • Jesus, you don’t get it. You weren’t there. You have no idea how the scrimmage was run. You assume reps equal passes, which is silly. You take the scrimmage out of context of spring practice in its entirety.

          Hell, it’s not that you don’t get it. It’s that you don’t want to get it.

          I’ve tried to be nice about you being tiresome. It’s not working. So find another place to comment.

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        • EdnauseumDawg

          “…you have to conclude something is amiss.”

          I believe you’re on to something. But you should keep it quiet for your own protection. Those could be (red &) black helicopters off in the distance.

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        • An orange tree doesn’t grow cucumbers, right? Don’t think I woulda said that… straw and camel vibe to me. Vaya Con Dios!
          Nothin’ but love for ya baby!

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  8. Goat Balls

    You guys are starting to make me nervous about the QB spot. We’ve got three kids that certainly look the part and they’ve got excellent teachers in CMR and Schott..

    I say we start the rumor that one of these kids will be the next Montana- who should have been a DGD. Maybe the idiots at the AJC will pick up on the rumor and we can have a good laugh.

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    • EdDawg

      Nervous about Qb? Geez, we’re all nervous wrecks about the Qb given Richt’s winless Championshipless streak since 2005. Been 9 years IN A ROW man, that’s a lot of misses.

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  9. Dawgoholic

    You don’t get as many pass plays when you average over 40 yards per completion. I’m curious to see how the other guys do with the 3rd team and how Park does with the 1st and 2nd teams. I’d bet we see a different distribution of attempts in Saturday’s scrimmage.

    I also expect each QB to get 1 quarter with the 1s in the G-day game.

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  10. BigAL

    Park should win out in the end. The kid is a gun slinger with a chip on his shoulder vs. Ramsey who is under way too much pressure (by the fans) to perform. His comments remind me of a Nervous Nelly. Leaning on the Joe T and C experiment, CMR picks Ramsey anyway due to his head scratching loyalty. Hopefully, this time next year after a 7-5/ 8-4 season, Eason saves the day. I’m out.

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  11. Dawgoholic

    Ramsey’s got big time talent and Richt is a great developer of QBs. Talentwise, Ramsey is not in the same league as JT3 or Cox. If Ramsey wins the job, he’ll be one of the top 5 QBs in the SEC. You can say the exact same thing for Park. Though Bauta does not have the talent of Ramsey or Park, he’s got more physical tools than JT3, Cox, or HM14 – so you can pretty much say the same for him too.

    The question isn’t who can become a top SEC QB – they all can. The question is can any of them lead us to 12-15 wins instead of 8-11 wins.

    Last, when you talk about win totals, the biggest question isn’t the QB race but the defense. If we have a 2nd year surge under Pruitt and Chubb stays healthy, it won’t take many heroics from the QB to get the team a ring or two.

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    • BigAL

      I would love some of that Kool-Aid you got there….I really do hope you get the chance to tell me ” I told you so”.

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      • Dawgoholic

        BigAL, if you don’t think that one of the three can lead us to 8-11 wins, I’m not sure how to help you. Just a reminder, we won 8 with Joe Cox, 10 with HM14, and 9 with JT3/Freshman Stafford/RS Cox. The only QB under CMR to win less than 8 was AM as a redshirt freshman – there were a lot of other issues that season too.

        I’m saying all three of these are good enough to maintain the status quo of 8-11 wins. I’d like to hope that at least one of them is good enough to get us to that next level – especially considering the fact that we have the best OL, RB, and defense combination since 2002.

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      • Cojones

        Thought you were “out”. Don’t type’em if you can’t live by’em.

        Senator, I thought sockpuppetry was “out”.

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